On July 27th, the 37-year-old Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila finished scaling Pakistan’s K2 mountain. It was her last of the world’s 14 8,000 or more meter summits, a climbing feat that she accomplished in just 92 days; the fastest ever.
It would be an incredible accomplishment, had it not come at the expense of the Pakistani Sherpa Mohammed Hassan, who was left for dead after a fall by Harila and her team, at least as alleged by other climbers on the mountain that day.
“He is being treated by one person while everyone else is pushing towards the summit,” the Australian climber Philip Flämig told Standard newspaper. “The fact is that there was no organized rescue operation although there were Sherpas and mountain guides on site who could have taken action.”
Flämig was on the mountain with his climbing partner Wilhelm Steindl, and the two claim to have drone footage that shows climbers walking over his body.
“If he had been a Westerner, he would have been rescued immediately. No one felt responsible for him,” Flämig continued. “What happened there is a disgrace. A living human was left lying so that records could be set.”
Harila responded to the accusations, stating that Hassan was not her Sherpa, and her team did all they could to provide assistance.
“If he were my Sherpa I wouldn’t have sent him up in that condition,” she said. “It is simply not true to say that we did nothing to help him. We tried to lift him back up for an hour and a half and my cameraman stayed on for another hour to look after him. At no point was he left alone.” She posted a more complete account of events to her Instagram.
Hassan reportedly had taken the job of rope fixer to help pay for his diabetic mother’s medical bills, despite being unqualified. There is currently a GoFundMe in his honor.
“He fell on what is probably the most dangerous part of the mountain where the chances of carrying someone off were limited,” Harila concluded. “We did all we could for him.”
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